All Armed Merchantmen to Be Sunk; Unrestricted U-Boat Warfare Expected as Sequel to "Altmark" io take prisoners through Norwegian waters than to take them by train from New York to San Francisco.
Mr, James Ryan, Chairman of the "War Associations Committee on Protecting Americans' Property in Foreign Countries and on the High Seas, is said to have declared that it was the duty of Norway to determine the true situation. There was considerable justification for the British action.
The Washington Correspondent of the "New York Times" says that persons in the capital familiar with the Hague Convention expressed the opinion privately that Great Britain has the tenable grounds of international law in support of her. State Department circles feel comment inadvisable, but unofficial observers expressed the view that the controversy with Norway might hinge on whether the Altmark could be classed as a warship or naval auxiliary.—Reuter.
"Manchester Guardian" View London, Feb. 19.
The "Manchester Guardian" was even more scathing. "If a vessel can act with a battleship while she is destroying commerce, can receive pri-Soners from the sunken ships, can keep them in confinement for many weeks, and can convoy them to an enemy country, and still be regarded as a peaceful, innocent merchantman fo be assisted through neutral territorial waters with a kindly escort of neutral warships, then there is an end to international law and to common sense."—Havas-
London, Feb. 19.
Germany has announced that she is no longer bound by the London Submarine Convention, in an official statement read over the German wireless today. The statement declared that the arming of all British ships in the North Sea meant a repudiation by Great Britain of the London Submarine Convention. "German U-boat commanders are now authorized to sink these armed vessels," it added.
It is officially stated in Berlin that seven men were killed in the Altmark incident, another missing and presumed drowned, while five were seriously wounded.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.